Ant-Man, Vision, War Machine, and General Ross All Confirmed For ‘Captain America: Civil War’

You see the release date in the image there: May 6, 2016. Marvel Phase Three kicks off exactly one year from yesterday with the release of Captain America: Civil War. With the clock ticking, and the Avengers: Age of Ultronpublicity tour finally winding down, it’s time to get to shooting Cap 3. Marvel announced today that production has officially begun on next summer’s massive sequel, and they also revealed four more big additions to the cast.

We already knew that Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther, Emily VanCamp’s Agent 13, and Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch would all show up to kick off the big Civil War between the superheroes. But now we also know that, fresh off his debut in Age of Ultron, Paul Bettany’s The Vision will join them, along with William Hurt’s General Thunderbolt Ross (last seen all the way back in 2008, in The Incredible Hulk), Don Cheadle’s War Machine, and Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man, who’ll make his Marvel debut in his first solo movie later this summer.

Granted, you can’t have a Civil War between superheroes without a lot of superheroes, but this is a big cast, almost as big as an Avengers movie. And it sure sounds like an Avengers movie from the official synopsis:

‘Captain America: Civil War’ picks up where ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.

That synopsis jives closely with the Civil War comic books, which involved a similar disaster and lead to Iron Man and Cap squabbling over whether superheroes should register with the U.S. government. The press release also says Rudd’s Ant-Man “will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers,” though it doesn’t specify that he joins the team (yet). One noticeable absence from the list of returning stars: Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, who one would think would be a key player in a fight between the government and superheroes. But maybe not.

The ranks of the returning creators from Captain America: The Winter Soldier do include directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. They’ll assemble all those heroes and villains when Captain America: Civil War opens next May.